Organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup hope to host a quarter-final and at least two other matches at Wembley, amid concerns they will struggle to secure other football stadiums that will allow the tournament to hit its financial targets

In the frame: Wembley is lined up to host 2015 Rugby World Cup gamesPhoto: Getty Images

England Rugby 2015, a subsidiary company of the Rugby Football Union, has a target of selling 2.9 million tickets – an optimistic figure unless football stadiums are used alongside Twickenham, the Millennium Stadium and domestic grounds, including Welford Road.

The availability of Wembley is also constricted by the international football window, which coincides with the fourth week of the pool phases of the tournament, due to kick-off on Sept 18, 2015. Ross Young, chief operating officer of ER 2015, said that its plan was for all major host venues to stage at least three games because of cost implications.

"Given the fit-out costs of a venue, we would not use a stadium for less than two games and, for the bigger venues, less than three games," Young said.

The Premier League is yet to give permission for clubs to stage games, citing complications in the fixture list which will not be confirmed until June 2015, far too late for World Cup organisers to wait. There is also the new £1 billion-a-year TV deal to consider, and little appetite to complicate schedules for broadcasters paying £6.5 million per-game.

ER 2015 has to confirm venues early next year following the World Cup draw in December. But Young insisted that he was optimistic that a deal could be struck with the Premier League. "With the [football] international window in that last weekend of the pool phase, we are talking about a three-week period and if we can't work something out within that three-week period I would be hugely disappointed," he added.

"This is no difference at all to the process that was put in place for France 2007 when the vast majority of venues used were football venues like Lens, Nantes and St Etienne, which are French First Division clubs with very similar commitments and rules and regulations. All those football venues were integrated into a very successful World Cup in 2007."

Asked if he was concerned at suggestions that the Premier League may not be able to give confirmation of the availability of venues until June 2015 when the football fixture list is announced, Young added: "We would never have engaged and continued in this process if that had been the case. We need to confirm matches and venues by the early part of next year and everyone has always been aware of that."

ER 2015 is understood to have included Coventry City's Ricoh Arena in a list of venues that includes contingency options if no agreement can be reached with the Premier League.Murrayfield and the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, however, are not thought to be under consideration.

"Once we chose the venues from a long list that includes some contingency, we have five months to work with them [the Premier League] and go through variations of schedules to make sure they and the clubs are comfortable with the schedules to sign up to them," Young added.

Representatives from ER 2015 and the Premier League are due to hold two meetings next month and again in November in an effort to resolve any outstanding difficulties.

Young added: "This debate has seen blogs on websites saying 'Why don't we just hold everything at the Olympic Stadium, Wembley and Twickenham?' Between those three venues, we have got plenty of capacity, but it is not the London 2015 World Cup.

"The whole point is that it is a tournament that gives access to rugby fans across England and we get the ability to recreate extra special rugby weekends in the likes of Newcastle and Manchester."